Hún bætir einni tilvitnun við innganginn og annarri í miðjuna.

She adds one quotation to the introduction and another in the middle.

Breakdown of Hún bætir einni tilvitnun við innganginn og annarri í miðjuna.

• hún: she
• í: in
• og: and
• annar: another

Questions & Answers about Hún bætir einni tilvitnun við innganginn og annarri í miðjuna.

What form is bætir, and what does it tell me?

Bætir is the 3rd person singular present tense of að bæta.

So Hún bætir ... means She adds ... or She is adding ..., depending on context.

• hún = she
• bætir = adds

The ending -ir is a common present-tense ending for many Icelandic verbs in the he/she/it form.

Why is it einni tilvitnun and not eina tilvitnun?

Because að bæta normally takes the thing being added in the dative case.

So in this sentence:

• einni = dative singular feminine of einn
• tilvitnun is also singular feminine, and in this noun its indefinite singular form looks the same in several cases

That is why you get:

• einni tilvitnun = one quotation in the dative

A learner might expect accusative, but with að bæta einhverju ... Icelandic uses the dative for the thing that is added.

Why do einni and annarri have those endings?